A little insecure
by EmilyLongbottom
Summary: Neville may be the most insecure boy at Hogwarts but when he learns that the girl of his dreams likes him too he has to man up and face her, with help from Hermione of course!
1. Chapter 1

Hermione silently ran up the staircase she mustn't get caught tonight she thought to herself. But as she looked behind her to check if there were any prefects or Filch were following her, and ran straight into somebody. Squinting into the darkness she whispered "who's that?"

"Neville, Hermione, what are you doing here?" Neville whispered in the darkness.

"I was, just- wait, what are YOU doing out this late?" Hermione asked curiously.

"I- I was in the astronomy tower, you can't tell anybody though, it's somewhere where I can get away from it all, do my homework, get away from all the comments, not that anybody even notices I'm gone" Neville says plainly.

Hermione frowned, concerned for her friend. "Well of course they don't notice you're gone Neville, it's the middle of the night."

"I go straight from dinner to the common room, grab my homework and run to the tower and stay up there until- what are YOU Hermione Granger, doing up this late?" Neville persisted.

She turned bright red, looking at her feet. "I started reading in the library and lost track of time. I don't know why I wasn't caught."

"Maybe they knew you was there and decided not to get you in trouble because, I don't know why" Neville said angrily, pent up rage spilling out.

Sitting down Hermione motioned for him to join her.

Neville sat down near Hermione, he didn't feel comfortable sitting too close "Hermione, can I tell you something about my parents?" Neville asked sadly.

"Of course you can" she said softly.

"The Cruciartus Curse." He said "Bellatrix Lestrange used the Cruciartus Curse on my Mum and Dad to get them to tell her where the Potters were hiding" Neville started to cry, but wiped away the tears "They didn't have to, they could of just told her where they are, and then you-know-who probably would have killed Harry there and then, but now, I hardly have any parents and he hasn't said anything to me about it, it may be that he hasn't been told but I'd appreciate it if he knew that he's not the only one been left without parents."

"Oh gosh, Neville you poor thing!" Hermione threw her arms around him, wanting to make it better but knowing she never could "I swear if he knew he would 100% understand, I wish I had known I wish you never had to go through this Neville. I'm sure, if they were here today they would be so proud of you."

"They are here, kinda, they're in Saint Mungos, but they're too ill, they can't speak, my dads paralysed, neither of them can remember anything, my mother put the most powerful mind lock curse on herself, Dumbledore gave it to her in case of desperate measures, and seeing as she was about to murder them, it was perfect, I know they remember Gran and I, deep down, but the curse is too big, if it was unbreakable the ministry would of taken it off them by now, but it's too powerful"

Neville didn't try and hold back his tears anymore; he knew he could trust Hermione.

Hermione started to cry also, she just couldn't stand the thought of Neville knowing his parents were still alive, but unable to recognize him. She couldn't find the words to console him, so instead hugged him again.

Together they sat for about 15 minutes, silently crying into each other's shoulders, Hermione started to speak

"Neville, who do you consider being your friend? I rarely ever seeing you with people, I never thought about it until now."

"Seamus and Dean, I suppose, I think they're my friends, but I can't decide if I want friends or not, there is this one girl, Ravenclaw, Luna Lovegood, she helps me through it, you know, when there's nobody else to talk to, I take my work up to the tower but we just sit there, we don't talk but when we do it's me telling her my problems and I listen to her beautiful voi- advice" Neville blushed as he talked about the mysterious Luna.

Hermione smiled slightly and said, "Luna talks about you sometimes. She likes it when you come and see her."

Neville's cheeks turned a scarlet red, "Really?" He said probably a little too quickly

Smiling brighter Hermione nodded.

"Merlin Hermione!" Neville smiled brightly "Do you think I should ask her out?"

I'm nearly sure she would agree."

"How do I ask her out?" Neville said uncertainly "I've never you know..."

"Just ask her!" Hermione giggled "Here, let's go to bed and we can practice tomorrow night, straight after dinner grab your things from the common room and head up to the astronomy tower"

"But what if Luna's there?" Neville asked

"I'll clear off and you'll have to skip practice" Hermione laughed

The next evening was a blur, Snape had given Neville detention in potions because his went horribly wrong, but that's what you get for partnering Seamus and Neville together in potions, so he was late to dinner, in fact, he missed dinner completely. Luna and Hermione were up in the tower already when Neville arrived, but just before he went through the door leading into the topmost room he heard part of their conversation

"So Luna, do you really like Neville in that way?" Hermiones voice said

"More than like him" said the unmistakable voice of Luna lovegood "I love him"

Neville decided he'd play the innocent card and just walk through the door


	2. Chapter 2

Neville walked through the door of the tower wearing his "I just got here" face, which thankfully the girls believed.

"Hi Neville!" Luna and Hermione said brightly

"Hey girls" Neville replied happily as he walked in and took a seat between them

"What homework have you got Neville?" Luna asked sweetly

"Astronomy and Divination" Neville replied

"Lucky we're up here then isn't it" Hermione laughed

"What do you have?" Neville asked, giving Luna a polite nod

"Charms" Luna said, returning the nod "But I can't do it up here, it's just learning the spell"

"You should always learn Luna!" Hermione said astonished, but with a laugh

The three of them laughed together, then Neville sat up and looked Luna in the eye

"Luna, will you –" Neville got cut off by the sound of a knocking at the door

The three looked at each other and made no noise what so ever

"It's only us!" The voice laughed as Ron and Harry walked in

"You two gave us such a fright!" Hermione risked a shout "What in the name of Merlin are you doing up here?"

"We saw you run off after dinner in the opposite direction of the library, and then we saw Neville go this way too" Ron said slightly relieved "So I just thought that"

"Ron, Neville and I are just friends!" Hermione said "What on earth made you think?"

Hermione was cut off by Harrys suggestion to sit down

"So, Neville, is this where you run off to after dinner?" Harry asked

"Ermm, yeah, but you can't tell anyone, it's where Luna and I do our homework and get away from the people that call us names and stuff"

"So, are you and Luna?" Ron asked

"Well actually I was just about to…" Neville replied

"You were going to ask me on a date?" Luna said surprised

"Hey Luna, didn't see you there" Said Harry

"Hi Mr. Potter, erm Neville, yes" Luna whispered

"Really?" Neville said astonished, clearly forgetting what he overheard earlier

"Of course silly" Luna laughed

"Well, it's getting late" Ron butted in, jealous that Neville could ask out Loony but he couldn't ask out Hermione

The 5 5th years headed back up to their common rooms, Neville not saying a word until they got back

"Wow, I have a girlfriend" He said when they stepped through the fat lady painting and into the common room


	3. Chapter 3

When Neville awoke the next morning the realisation struck him lightning, he, Neville Frank Longbottom, had a girlfriend, the stunning yet somewhat odd, Luna Lovegood. He wasn't sure of the time so he got up anyways and showered, brushed his teeth, got dressed and combed his dark, messy hair.

When he finally decided on a hairstyle that will impress Luna (he kept with his usual, slight curls and waves) he ran down to the common room, beating his previous record of 6.31 with 5.06 seconds. Neville sat down onto one of the red, velvet Griffindor sofas. Then he realised that he hadn't thought much of his mother and father since he had bumped into Hermione that night, which made him feel awful because he had promised them the day he found out about Bellatrix's deed, that he would think about them every day and every night, but he hadn't, so he stood up again once he had regained his breath and climbed the staircase again.

When he was back in the 5th year's dormitory he crept over to his trunk and silently opened the lid and pulled out a small, golden muggle time teller, also known as a "watch". Tightly holding it in his right hand he sped back down to the common room, just with a little hast as not to damage the fragile piece of finery his father gave to him. He replaced himself into the same chair that he was sitting in moments ago, pulled out his wand and cast "Lumos" lighting up the room around him.

"Dad?" he whispered lightly "Mum?" he turned the watch in his hand, half expecting something to happen, but all that was on the back was the same foreign words that were there since as long as he can remember, he had only just realised that Hermione could help him, so he decides to make an arrangement to meet Hermione and Luna, Luna and Hermione, in the tower at 9 pm "maybe Ron and Harry will show up again" Neville thought out loud with an accidental laugh.

He slipped the time teller on his wrist, checked the time (it hadn't ran out of battery because his father had charmed it, luckily the ministry of misused muggle technology haven't found out because they'd take it away and have it destroyed) it was 6:55 am, the others would be rising soon, so he decides to stay and reread the Herbology book that he received last year from Professor Moody, or Barty Crouch Jr. he still wasn't sure what happened there.

During breakfast in the great hall Neville and Hermione agree with Luna to meet at the tower at 9 pm, the rest of the day Neville made it to all his lessons on time without fail thanks to his time teller. All was well until Snape's potion class; Neville thankfully remembered to remove his watch before he entered because Seamus Finnigan was making Fred and George Weasley a batch of "Exploding Pop Punch" and he added a little too much "Popping Smice" and it exploded all over him and Neville, soaking his robes, but it gave him an excuse to leave early to the common room and inspect his watch closer. It may be him just hoping this, but the strange words on the back of the watch may be an incantation for a spell to unlock what may be a puzzle in the watch that his father left him.


End file.
